Same Sh*t, Different Brain

In the eighth podcast episode of Same Shit Different Brain’s third series, Rebecca talks to Leticia Fonseca. Leticia is a personal finance mentor and she helps people, particularly women, to have a healthier relationship with money. She is the founder of Master Your Finances and a self-proclaimed ‘infectiously positive powerhouse’. Leticia talks about the close relationship between money and how w...

In the seventh podcast episode of Same Shit Different Brain’s third series, Rebecca talks to trans speaker and activist, George Evans. George became an in-demand speaker after his Pride Month 2022 LinkedIn post, proudly declaring his trans identity, got millions of views. He’s since become a celebrated public speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice and regularly travels around to share his story with differen...

In the sixth podcast episode of Same Shit Different Brain’s third series, Rebecca talks to producer for the creative and tech industries, Emma Jackson.  You may have seen Emma landing a plane with Kevin Bacon in an EE ad. As she likes to put it, she only gets out of bed for world firsts. She racked up millions of views for content produced for Cut Youtube channel, and using entertainment to show d...

In the fifth episode of series 3, Rebecca talks to the brilliant Pete Barnes, founder of the Northern Pride Sports Collective, the Manchester-based LGBTQ+ badminton team Northern Cocks, and a board games community too. I met Pete when he appeared on the panel of SSDB’s first live event last year, which was all about How to Make Friends and Find Communities as an Adult. We talked about social anxie...

In the fourth podcast episode of Same Shit Different Brain’s third series, Rebecca talks to Kashi Chellen, community and events executive at The Happiness Index. The Happiness Index is an employee engagement & happiness platform, helping organisations measure the key employee engagement AND happiness drivers to power their people strategy. 🧠👥 They discuss destigmatising therapy, the importan...

This time, Rebecca speaks to Ellie Austin-Williams, founder of This Girl Talks Money. In her own words, Ellie is ‘Breaking the money taboo & putting financial wellbeing on the agenda’. She started TGTM because she was ‘bored of the same old financial tips written by middle aged white men in suits’, and wanted to ‘open the conversation up around earning, spending, saving and managing money.’ Al...

The second podcast episode of Same Shit Different Brain’s third series, Rebecca talks to Amy Proudfoot, founder and director of Sober Social. Sober Social’s mission is to revolutionise socialising within communities and make socialising inclusive to everyone. This is an open and honest chat between two sober girls about navigating life without alcohol, whether you’re going sober, doing Dry January...

 Rebecca speaks to Stef Sword-Williams, founder and author of F*ck Being Humble, the incredible platform and career bible helping people be unapologetically proud of their achievements and overcome the fear of self-promotion. In Stef’s own words, “‘F*ck Being Humble’ is a mindset to adopt to make sure you never miss out on an opportunity because you were too modest”.  Stef saw a lack of representa...

This week, Rebecca speaks to Phil Cookson, director of Creative Resource and Founder of the School of Thought. Phil spoke about the passing of his wife in 2019, before then losing his mum a few months later. He talked about how he found the process of grief, including navigating loneliness in lockdown, managing anniversaries, honing in on his own coping methods and helping his dad to come to terms...

This week, Rebecca speaks to Chloe Higgins, an author and writing coach. She runs her online business Write with Chloe from Thailand, where she recently moved to from her home of Australia. A big reason for this was her love of Muay Tai, with this form of exercise serving as an important coping tool for her mental health.  Chloe spoke about losing two sisters in a car accident when she was 17, whi...

This episode, Rebecca speaks to Rochelle Hanslow, an author, chronic illness and mental health writer, podcaster and M.E. Support UK ambassador.    Rochelle is doing incredible work promoting more education and challenging misconceptions around lesser-understood physical and mental health conditions. They discuss a range of important topics and issues, including:   Misunderstandings around the day...

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we hear a recap of every guest from series 1 talking to Rebecca about mental health, in the first of two special compilation episodes. Here's an overview of some of the themes discussed in these episode snapshots:    S1 Ep1 - Stewy Axon: Body image and social media  S1 Ep2 – Sarah Wain: CBT and panic attacks  S1 Ep 3 – Alison Carlin: Skin confidence with...

This week, Rebecca speaks to Bonnie Bowron, a breathwork facilitator and energy healer from Birmingham. She discussed how breathwork changed her life after years struggling with addiction, and how getting clean from the coping mechanisms of alcohol and drugs helped her to become more self-empowered and find out who she really is. This then led her to train in breathwork so that she could help othe...

This time on the podcast, Rebecca speaks to Liam Browne. Liam is a published author, with his two autobiographical books Dealer to Healer: A Modern Tale of A Fucked Up Male, and HITCHHIKING: Feel the good vibrations. He is also a healer, yoga teacher and the founder of Full Power Cacao, a powerful plant medicine which is also a superfood. Full Power Cacao regular ceremonies and chocolate dance par...

This time on the podcast, Rebecca speaks to Craig Seaton, whose Create Your Own Reality  retreat in Wales she recently went on for the second time (you may remember the previous episode with his co-host Briony). Craig is a Breathwork Facilitator, whose sessions you can book at Blok gyms, along with regular events in Manchester city centre and other venues. He’s also a kundalini yoga instructor, lu...

This week, Rebecca’s guest is Sarah Adams, who runs the brilliant Manchester Choirs. Run in three different venues, they are fantastically supportive and uplifting sessions singing gospel-inspired songs, providing a creative and emotional release singing with other ladies on a weekday evening. They allow members to feel the connection of community in a really fun way, allowing performance and expr...

This week, Rebecca speaks to John Hester, co-founder of Lonely thoughts clothing, which he started with his wife Lyndsey in 2020. This independent local brand up in the Scottish Highlands have already made a more positive impact on the world than 10 big fast fashion companies. They support some fantastic causes, giving help to those in need around mental health by donating all sales to their chose...

We're back for 2022 with episode five of series two! This week, Rebecca speaks to Darren Hodgkinson, who she first met in November taking part in cold water immersion with Reservoir Doggs, of which he was a founding member. She went on a hike he was leading and threw herself in the deep end, literally, and now takes part in these dips regularly with this wonderful welcoming community. Darren...

For this special Christmas episode, Rebecca reunites with her former guests from series one. They talked about this year's 'realisations', achievements and what may have changed since they recorded their episodes during the last UK lockdown. They also discussed what they think of new year’s resolutions and whether they’ve made any for 2022. Rebecca hosts a festive quiz looking back...

For episode three of series two, Rebecca spoke to wellbeing laughter yoga coach Sara Kay. She attended some of Sara’s laughter yoga sessions over Zoom during lockdown and, well, they’re genius. Laughter is of course, the best medicine, and we all know the difference it can make to our mood, but it perhaps isn’t part of our everyday, as we’re not always watching comedy, attending a show or having r...

Rebecca's episode three guest is Briony Gunson, a mindset and business coach, trauma-informed breathwork facilitator and meditation teacher. She’s also a breath instructor at @blok gym and part of The Wayward Sisters coaching collective. Since being in a very high-pressured job at an agency a few years ago, Briony has been on her own journey with mental health and that led her to helping othe...

Welcome back for the official episode 1 of series 2! This episode, Rebecca talks to Mike Richard, founder of the mental health support-focused Community Interest Company, Talk About It Mate. Talk About it Mate's peer support groups for men now have hundreds of members. Mike and his team also started Walk About it Mate, which hosts regular open walk and talk meet-ups in different locations in...

Welcome back to Same Shit, Different Brain! - I'm so excited to be back for this special episode with Mindless Mag. It was really great to be asked by them to host an episode around fashion and mental health and it was a really lovely chat with some amazing women. We had a good old talk around all the different issues, such as clothing poverty and the impacts of fashion on our self-esteem, ho...

It's the final episode of the first series! This week, as the podcast turns six months old, Rebecca speaks to her friend Helen O’Hara, who she went to acting classes with years ago. Helen is so open about what she’s gone through since 2020. She is honest about the particular difficulties she's encountered over the pandemic, and how it felt to have to leave her friends behind as she moved...

This episode, Rebecca speaks to social media manager and fellow mental health podcaster Liam Smith. Liam was candid about his experiences with depression and anxiety, therapy, medication and dealing with all of this as a new father to his little girl. His openness is so crucial as the disparity between men who seek help for mental health challenges, and the number of men who take their lives is ev...